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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28626537">We "Won"</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SDNOIRE/pseuds/SDNOIRE'>SDNOIRE</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5, Persona Series</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:53:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,058</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28626537</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SDNOIRE/pseuds/SDNOIRE</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What if the Thieves weren't strong enough to defeat Akechi?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Akechi Goro &amp; Persona 5 Protagonist, Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto, Niijima Makoto/Persona 5 Protagonist</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>We "Won"</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ren was sprawled out on the cold, bloodied floor as his breathing faltered and the wounds seemed to just never stop leaking. </p><p>It is currently November 25th and the Thieves just collected all the letters of recommendation needed to secure the route to Masayoshi Shido's treasure. However, in their way at the final second was the traitor on everyone's mind; Goro Akechi. The battle seemed to be going in the Thieves' favor until Akechi summoned Loki, which is where it all went awry. </p><p>He was just too powerful against the exhausted team who secured the treasure's route in one go, not to mention the fact that Ren was already bruised, cut up, bloodied, and nearly murdered 5 days prior after his famous arrest and "death." </p><p>In the end, Akechi won this battle.<br/>
And maybe even the war...</p><p>-</p><p>"Tsk..." Akechi gripped his torn side as he limped to Rens nearly lifeless body. "I-Is that all? You <strong>fucking</strong>... p-piece of<strong> trash</strong>." </p><p>Ren couldn't respond. All he did was gaze in the direction of his incapacitated friends who could do nothing but watch the consequences of their failure. Morgana looked into Ren's eyes defeated, Ryuji couldn't move or think from the shock of not only having his bad leg broken once again but also he left arm, Ann and Haru were knocked out cold, Yusuke was slowly passing out as Futaba held onto him while she struggled to breathe, and Makoto, stuck underneath some rubble, struggled to free herself as she screeched and sobbed for mercy. He felt so many emotions, but no matter what he tried to do his body just wouldn't budge. He was burnt out. Dried. Broken. He couldn't do anything but await for the inevitable.</p><p>Akechi planted his foot onto Rens chest with enough force to make the once tall and mighty leader wince and groan in pain. The traitor pointed his blade to Ren's face and smirked. "What did I tell you, Ren... What did I <strong>fucking</strong> tell you?"</p><p>"... Tha.... tha..."</p><p>"Oh don't even bother... heh." He pressed his foot even harder into his chest, twisting it as Ren wailed in agony. "I told you that <strong><em>I </em></strong> would <strong>win</strong>." He began laughing hysterically at his fortune. "AND GUESS WHAT? <em><strong>I WON!" </strong></em></p><p>"<em>AKECHI!!!</em>"</p><p>He quickly turned his head toward the screeching Makoto. "What do you want, you pathetic welp? You want to die first?"</p><p>Makoto could barely form words with the amount of saliva built-up in her throat from sobbing. "<em>P-PLEASE STOP THIS!" PLEAS-</em>"</p><p><em><strong>"SHUT. UP." </strong></em>Makoto stopped pointlessly screaming for mercy and just resumed balling as she struggled against the debris. "We both know you can't do anything. Stop trying and-" He gripped his side and winced in pain before continuing. "w-watch as... I take out my final hurdle." </p><p>"A-Akechi..." Makoto breathlessly groaned out. "Y-You don't know what... you're doing..."</p><p>"Oh, but I do." He looked down at Ren and grimaced. "I'm going to kill him." He looked back up to her. "And then all of you. And once i'm done, there will be <em><strong>NOTHING</strong></em> in the way of <em><strong>MY</strong></em> victory. I'm so close I can <em>taste</em> it."</p><p>"You don't... want to kill Ren..."</p><p>"Oh, please." He snickered. "My feelings don't matter at this point. I have a goal, and i'm going to complete it no matter what." He stepped off of Ren and stood over him with his blade pointing to the center of his chest. "... Even if I have to kill my one and only rival."</p><p>Ren looked to Makoto with lifeless eyes, but with the faintest of smiles as he mouthed three simple words to her...</p><p>
  <em>I love you.</em>
</p><p>Any and all sounds around Akechi became muffled as he focused all his energy into this one last move. He readied his arms, his legs, and all his senses as he raised his blade and inhaled.</p><p>And then, he exhaled.</p><p>-</p><p>It is currently December 24th and the Thieves were only a few hours away from their infiltration into the depths of Mementos when Makoto wanted to visit someone before their final mission.</p><p>"Hey, Ren." She said to the gravestone that read her boyfriends name.</p><p>"Sorry I didn't visit yesterday. We were busy working on our strategies..." She sat her bag down before taking a deep breath and continuing. "Today's the big day... We're going to find a way to put an end to all of this, once and for all." She slowly sat down besides the gravestone, imagining it as Ren sitting there. "Futaba, Morgana and I spent all night making infiltration tools and all kinds of items for support, so don't worry. We'll be covered on that front. We also tried to make that coffee you usually made for all of us, but we could never do it right..." No response came unsurprisingly, but the silence stung all the same. She sighed and hung her head low. "I just... It's hard to be strong when you're not here to guide us. It just feels like we're incomplete and..." A tear formed in her eye. "<em><strong>I </strong></em>feel incomplete... You were always there for me and now you're gone. I..." She wiped the tear away before slowly resting her head on the gravestone. "I just miss you, Ren... I miss you, your scent, your body, your mind, your conscience, your coffee, your stupid little smirk... so badly. I-If only I was quicker to free my hand to shoot him, m-maybe you'd still be..." She couldn't finish. She would bawl if she even entertained the idea that, if she was faster, he may not have needed to die. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't be getting hysterical before the infiltration. I need to save my energy..."</p><p>She stayed like that for a whole hour until her phone went off, signaling that it was time to get going. She stood up and let out a long sigh. "Thank you, again, for what you did for all of us. I promise you that your... sacrifice will not be in vain. I'll make sure of it." She turned to walk away, but not before continuing. "A-And once we're done, I promise i'll come back with everyone. We can have a little celebration for our victory, just like old times..." She looked up to the passing bird going through the cloudy sky and took a deep breath.</p><p>"...I love you too, Ren."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! I know it's short, but that was what I intended.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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